What's your favorite Linux distro?

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I use SlAMD64, since Slack isn't directly available in 64 bit. I used to like Caldera, but then the company responsible for it turned on the entire community.

Currently Ubuntu, thinking of trying out a new distro. Any recs for a second distro? I was thinking openSUSE, but I've heard bad things about KDE4. I've also considered Arch or Debian, or maybe Slackware for more of a challenge. Ubuntu runs a bit hot on my laptop, and I've heard that SUSE and other distros with newer kernels don't have that problem.

Orwell, Ubuntu is based on debian. you might find it a lot similar. Maybe too similar.

Suse looked nice, but i cannot remember what computer i installed it on!

Yeah, I know, and I think SUSE uses .RPM like the whole Red Hat family. The idea behind Debian (or so I've heard) is that it's somewhat similar to Ubuntu but also more advanced so you learn a little more.


OpenSUSE 11.0 defaults to the seemingly despised KDE4, so I'd have to either go for the GNOME version (which supposedly is not as well-regarded as their KDE version) or download the massive DVD version to get KDE3.5. I've heard of SUSE letting people's laptops run at lower temperatures, though, and I might try it out. The livecd with KDE4 had a really weird-looking and unwieldy interface that I didn't like too much, but that could probably be modified and I didn't stay on too long after I saw there was no automatic recognition of my wifi- you've already heard all about that issue! Good news though, I will soon be off at college where I can plug in my own ethernet cable for a more reliable connection if I feel like tinkering with Linux systems.

I learned on Slack. I've found it is actually quite logical as far as where all the config files are. I've worked on other distros, and found some are overly reliant on configuration wizzards, even from the command line, (RH based) and bury the config files so far that it is near impossible to directly get to them. On one system I use, I basically must use a RH based distro (first RH9, then FC3, the current distro for new installs is CentOS5) as the IRLP network is standardized. I also work on some plugins, and it's best to have the same basic distro as everyone else, to make sure the modules will work. (I run IRLP node 4926)

Are there Linux equivalents to the software, or is there seriously no open-source software that performs the same function? I would be very surprised to hear that 75% of your software performs functions that are simply impossible for Linux users. But then, of course there is the issue of familiarity, quality, usability etc that could still be a reason to stick with your Windows-only software.

Now that its too late for you(you linux nut!), I would like to show you this!



Here is where its from. http://xkcd.com/456/

I'm currently using Ubuntu 7.10.

Debian is one of the oldest distros still around. It basically revolves around running on an enormous number of architectures, with an ungodly number of software packages, and near perfect stability. So sometimes it lags a bit behind more cutting edge (or bleeding edge) distros. And it doesn't really do the handholding thing too much, although they've got automated tools for some stuff.

Ubuntu is based off of Debian and first showed up around 2004 (compared to about 1993). It's not aimed specifically at new/novice users like Ubuntu, so you might end up learning more.

Arch I wouldn't mess with until you are comfortable with the idea of editing configuration files by hand, from a command line. You don't neccesarily need to know what to put there, as there is excellent documentation which will tell you all about it. But it won't do it for you.

If you're willing to put some effort into it, however, Arch is a great distro with a community that is both very friendly *and* quite knowledgeable. I need to get around to trying it again, sometime.

I just recently switched from Zenwalk to Debian, and I think I'm going to stick with it for awhile.

I am afraid that I'll mis-setup something and my laptop won't start. It'd be awful to repair her without a working CD-ROM drive, you know...

Sounds just about right.

Ubuntu Gusty Gibon and Redhat

I use openSuse 11.0. I upgraded from 10.1 last week.

The installation was fairly painless. Several of the hacks I had to do for 10.1 were not necessary for 11.0.

Lost were the patterns in the installation. Thus requiring me to install several packages after the installation. However, if one choses patterns on the Yast2 menu, one can usually find the appropriate packages...

I personally like Gnome, so am using it. The Compiz Fusion package comes already installed, setting up the server system was fairly easy. Also, a few little weird little bugs I was finding in 10.1 have disappeared.

In short, I have found that openSuse is sort of halfway between Ubuntu and Gentoo. Also, it has some of the best x86_64 support.

I was doing so reading on Novells website and Suse takes 512MB Memory just to run. As bad as Vista if you ask me.

Hey Lost, have you ever seen this then? I assume your computer has a USB?

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

There are portable versions of just about every distro. You can use it to experiment on, or just for repairs.